HOUSTON Oct 31 (Reuters) - The tanker Carabobo carrying
Algerian light crude to Venezuela has finished unloading at Jose
terminal and has set sail to the Caribbean island of Saint
Eustatius, where it will deliver the rest of its content,
according to Reuters vessel tracking data and a document from
state-run PDVSA.

Arrival of the Algerian crude cargo marked the first crude
import made by the OPEC-member country, which in late 1990s
bought condensates from Nigeria also to mix with its extra heavy
production while its crude upgraders were built. Those purchases
ceased in 2000.

The Singapore-flagged tanker, managed by a joint venture of
PDVSA and PetroChina, delivered 700,000 barrels of
Algerian Saharan Blend in Venezuela to be used as diluent for
extra heavy crudes produced at the vast Orinoco belt, says
PDVSA's exports and imports report.

The vessel, with capacity of two million barrels, set sail
on Friday to Statia terminal, operated by NuStar in Saint
Eustatius. PDVSA has leased part of the facility since the
beginning of 2014 for blending and storing operations. It is
scheduled to arrive to the Caribbean island on Saturday.

Venezuela, long an exporter, does not have a vast
infrastructure to handle imports. Only a few of its ports can
manage unloading and transportation of oil purchases and most of
them are being used for increasing fuel imports.

A second Algerian crude cargo for Venezuela, the Very Large
Crude Carrier (VLCC) Boston, is being loaded at the port of
Bejaia and expected to set sail to Jose terminal in the coming
days.

After confirming purchases, PDVSA said this month that oil
imports are "occasional" and most of them will be made while a
270,000 barrel per day (bpd) crude upgrader operated with
Norway's Statoil and France's Total is halted
for a major maintenance as of November.

But experts say that a decline in domestic production of
light and medium crudes that were used as diluents in Venezuela,
and delays in construction of new upgraders, are leaving PDVSA
without options to replace imports in the short term
.
(Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Terry Wade)